The Fairytale Queen
by It's Almost A Secret
Summary: Agnes had never seen the Snow Queen, but she'd certainly heard the stories.


**Hey there. So this is something I've been working on for quite some time. It's a story I've been wanting to write since I first saw the movie over a month ago, but I was having trouble getting the words down. It has been monopolizing what little free time I have to write at the moment, so I haven't really had much time to work on "The Hands of Fate," though it is still a work in progress. Now that this is done I'll probably pick that one back up tomorrow, so I should have the next update soon. Anyway, this story may not be everyone's particular cup of tea, but I hope at least some of you will enjoy it. Either way, I did have a good deal of fun writing it.**

* * *

Agnes stepped out onto the porch of her modest home and took a deep breath of early dawn air. She blinked a bit as her eyes adjusted to the light, stifling a yawn with the back of her hand. It was a sunny day, bright and pleasant, and many of her neighbors were already out and about despite the early hour. She watched them bustle about for a few moments, knowing that soon she too would need to get moving on the day's chores.

"Big day today," came a voice from somewhere to her right. Agnes glanced over her shoulder to see one of her neighbors, a tall and burly fellow named Torvald, passing by with a sack of feed hefted over his shoulder. His wife waved from the side of their house, where she was busying herself hanging colorful streamers from the windows.

"Aye, that it is," Agnes agreed, masking the lack of enthusiasm she felt with her most convincing smile. She averted her gaze.

If Torvald noticed anything odd about her behavior, he made no indication. He simply smiled and shifted the heavy load on his shoulder. "Well, I best get moving. Cows aren't going to feed themselves, you know," he said with a laugh.

Agnes watched his retreating back for a moment as he headed out towards the fields, then turned her attention to the rest of the people on her street. All around there was a flurry of excitement. People rushed to and fro, all in slightly finer dress than they would have worn on an average morning. Mothers herded their children inside, scolding them for the mud on their breeches, while, across the street, wives and daughters busied themselves making sure their homes were neat and tidy.

Everything needed to be perfect today. Today was special. Today the Queen was coming to visit.

It was no wonder most of the town was in an uproar. Theirs was a small farming village, far off on the outskirts of the kingdom. Towns like these were important, of course; they produced most of the kingdom's food. Yet the fact that they were so far removed from the center of things meant that many of the people who lived there had never even seen the palace, let alone the Queen.

But they'd all heard the stories.

The ruling family of Arendelle had been a bit strange for as long as anyone could remember. The old king and queen had been quite solitary and secretive, and something had happened years back that had caused them to close the castle's gates entirely. A huge portion of the castle staff had been let go overnight, and none of them had seemed to have any idea why, though they'd certainly received a fair share of questioning.

In the wake of the mystery, rumors began to circulate, growing more and more fantastical as time wore on. Some believed the king had grown ill, and that the royal family had retreated behind the walls so that word of his fragility would not spread. Others claimed that one of the young princesses was horribly disfigured, and her parents had hidden her from public view for her own protection. There were more than a dozen such stories, all seeming to appear from thin air with no actual source to trace them back to.

Then the king and queen had died, their lives claimed at sea with no warning at all, and the air of mystery surrounding the castle had deepened. At least the people had known the old king and queen from the days before they'd closed the gates. They'd remembered them from early on in their reign, when public appearances had been frequent and the palace gates had been opened wide. They'd seen their faces in portraits and on currency and in books. With the king and queen gone, and left with only two secluded princesses who had not yet come of age, speculation among the kingdom's people became wilder than ever.

Yet rule of the kingdom carried on from behind the walls, and slowly but surely the people began to speak of other things. In time, the strange situation in Arendelle began to feel normal, and people forgot that they had never even seen the young woman who would one day rule over them. That was the way it had been in the three years since the king and queen had died, and the way things had remained until Queen Elsa's coronation.

Agnes sighed and turned her gaze from the street. There was no time to stand around letting her mind wander when there was so much work to be done. The Queen might be visiting, but there were still animals that needed feeding and chores to be done, and all of that before she was faced with the task of wrestling her three impertinent children into their Sunday best.

As though the thought of them had called them forth, Agnes' older daughter and son, aged eight and six, respectively, came flying out of the house and nearly bowled her over, both giggling madly as they raced by. It took Agnes a moment to regain her bearings, and they'd already cleared the porch by the time she called after them, "And where do you two think you're going?"

The two children stopped in their tracks. Her son looked up at his older sister expectantly. Agnes should have known. Tomas was no trouble on his own, but his older sister Rita brought the devil out in him.

"We're just going down to the lake to skip rocks," Rita answered, though the way she would not meet her mother's gaze suggested that there was more to the story. Before Agnes could protest further, Rita grabbed her brother's hand and began to pull him away.

"Did you feed the chickens?" Agnes called after them.

"Yes, mom!" Rita called back, not even bothering to turn around.

"Be back before lunch!" Agnes called again. This time she did not even receive a response. She lifted two fingers up to rub the bridge of her nose. She loved her children dearly, but some days they were a bit much to handle.

Agnes turned and went back inside, already composing a mental list of tasks to be completed. She found her younger daughter, Nora, playing with a doll on the living room floor. Nora was not nearly the handful her older siblings were, though Agnes feared this was because Nora was only three and had not yet spent enough time with them.

"Do you know what your brother and sister are up to?" Agnes asked as she began to clear a few dirty plates off the table. Nora looked up at her with wide eyes but didn't seem inclined to answer the question. Agnes smiled and said, "Well, you keep out of trouble at least." Nora giggled and went back to her game.

Agnes made her way out the back door and headed towards the barn. She allowed herself a tired sigh before she set about fetching the grain for the cows. It had been over a year since her husband, Mikael, had passed away, and Agnes was still learning to cope. She hadn't had a choice, not with three young children to take care of and a small farm to run. Luckily, she lived in a tight-knit community, and the neighbors had helped out a great deal in whatever ways they could, but that did not change the fact that Agnes's life had become incredibly difficult in the time since her husband's death.

The unnatural winter in July certainly hadn't helped matters either.

It had been two months ago now, but the ordeal was still fresh in Agnes's mind. The cold had come on suddenly; there had been no warning at all. It seemed to freeze the very air itself, blanketing the ground in heavy snow in under an hour. No one had been prepared. Agnes and her children had spent the night in the barn, huddled together with the livestock and trying to hold onto what little warmth they could. There was no firewood to be had at that time of year; it simply wasn't the season. They'd spent the night freezing and listening to the sound of howling wind against the windows and wondering if they would ever feel warm again.

Yet the sun did eventually return. As quickly as it had come, the snow melted away, leaving no sign that it had ever been there in the first place. There were whispers throughout the town of witchcraft and sorcery, but it wasn't until days later that they'd received an official explanation from a palace messenger.

It had all been the new Queen's doing. On the very day she'd been crowned she'd sent a curse over her own kingdom, freezing it solid. The losses had not been so bad in Agnes's case, at least. She had managed to get the animals indoors and to keep almost all of them warm during the worst of the storm. They'd lost a sickly calf and a few of the younger chicks, but that was nothing in comparison to the losses felt by those who made their livelihood in agriculture. An entire season's crops had been wiped out in one fell swoop, leaving the farmers who had planted them with nothing to harvest at the end of the summer.

The Queen, to her credit, had provided monetary compensation for the kingdom's farmers, but that didn't change the fact that there was now a food shortage plaguing the land. Money meant nothing if there was nothing to buy. Some relief had been provided in this aspect as well. What could be spared from the palace's food stores had been distributed, but it still could not cover all of the losses. Some of Arendelle's food was imported, but in these cases it was typically three times more expensive than what the townsfolk were used to paying. Agnes was fortunate in that she and Mikael had always kept their own stores, to protect themselves should they ever fall on hard times. Yet even so, she was concerned that the grain stores would fall short of feeding the animals for an entire year, and she didn't know where she would be left if that happened.

Yet all of this unpleasantness and turmoil seemed to have been forgotten for the day. All of Agnes's neighbors were dressing themselves up and hanging decorations as though the Queen were visiting under ordinary circumstances. Agnes supposed she understood it. There was so little to be excited about these days that the townsfolk were willing to seize any excuse to celebrate, even if the person whose arrival they were celebrating had been been the cause of their misfortune in the first place. Yes, Agnes understood it, in a way, but that didn't mean she had to agree with it.

When it came right down to it, Agnes simply did not trust this new Queen. A sorceress for a ruler? Such a thing was unheard of. Before the freeze Agnes had not even known that such magic existed outside of old legends and fairytales. Now their country's ruler was a witch that many had taken to calling the "Snow Queen," and Agnes found the whole thing entirely too unsettling.

The reason for the Queen's visit today was supposedly to apologize to her people in person for the trouble she' d caused, and to survey the amount of damage that had been done so that further relief efforts could be put into place. She'd been visiting all of the towns of Arendelle, working her way outwards a bit at a time. Supposedly she wanted to get to know her people better, but to Agnes the whole situation didn't sit quite right.

Were they really to believe that the Queen had possessed this power all her life and couldn't control it? That she had accidentally frozen an entire kingdom? Such an act simply had to be deliberate. Sure, the Queen seemed contrite now, but perhaps it was all an act. Perhaps the purpose of the sudden winter had been to show her people what she was capable of, what she could do if they stepped out of line. And it was a frightening thought, that the Queen could bring the winter again with no warning at all. A wave of her hand and they would be buried beneath a dozen feet of snow, freezing and with no way to help themselves. It made Agnes worry for her livelihood, for her children, for the entire life she'd built for herself in Arendelle. She might have left for another kingdom if she'd had the means, but such an act was unthinkable given her current circumstances.

Agnes absentmindedly patted the side of one of the heifers as she finished doling out the grain and placed a bale of hay into the feeding trough. She wiped her forehead with the back of her arm. Already she smelled of dirt and earth and cow. She thought to herself that she'd need to clean herself up before the Queen's visit as she reached for a shovel and began to muck out the stalls.

She wondered what the Queen looked like. Such curiosity alone was enough to drive Agnes out onto the streets to watch the Queen ride through town. Almost no one had seen Queen Elsa since she'd been a very young girl, and only those in close proximity to the palace had been able to catch a glimpse during her coronation. Agnes knew the Queen was very young, only 21 years old, but she couldn't reconcile that fact with the mental imagine she'd constructed. In her mind the Queen looked closer to middle age and was wholly intimidating, with high cheekbones and cold eyes. She would have a pointed nose that she would hold high in the air as she looked down on her subjects. She would exude maliciousness and contempt. She would be the evil queen from every fairytale Agnes had ever read to her children to put them to sleep.

There was a younger princess too, Agnes suddenly remembered. Not as many spoke of her because she simply wasn't as important, nor had she shown any sign of abilities like those her sister possessed. Many said that she was bright and sweet and lovely, not nearly as cold and distant as her sister, the Queen.

There were rumors regarding the princess as well. Many said that the Queen was keeping her sister captive at the castle, and that was why the poor girl had never left seclusion despite being perfectly pleasant and normal. If Queen Elsa was the evil queen in Arendelle's fairytale, perhaps Princess Anna was the lonely princess trapped in the tower. Agnes made a mental note to examine the state of the young princess when she rode through town with the Queen later in the day.

Two hours had passed by the time Agnes finished with the morning chores, and the sun had risen high in the sky. Her son and daughter would be back soon, if they knew what was good for them, and Agnes needed to clean herself up before it was time to deal with them. She was filthy, covered in dirt and mud and who knew what else, and there were bits of straw poking out of her hair. Despite her state, a full bath was not an option. The process of drawing the water would take too long and the Queen's arrival was not far off. She would have to do the best she could with a wash cloth and some warm water.

She was just about to begin cleaning herself off when Rita came flying in, red-faced and out of breath.

"Oh, did you two actually decide to listen to me for a change?" she asked, joking. Her tone changed, however, when she saw the look on her daughter's face. "Rita? What's wrong?"

It took Rita a few moments to catch her breath. She had doubled over and was panting, one hand placed on her knee and the other pointing towards the door. She was wearing mittens, Agnes noted with confusion. She hadn't been wearing mittens when she'd left.

Finally she seemed to catch her breath enough to speak. "Mama," she began, and Agnes knew something was wrong. Rita only called her 'mama' when she knew she was in trouble. "Tomas is in trouble. I know we weren't supposed to, but we were playing up by the mountains and we found a cave but he got stuck and can't get out."

"Up by the mountains?" Agnes asked, alarmed. The eastern peaks were not far from town, but Agnes had forbidden her children to go there. The rocks at the base of the mountain were known to be unstable and rock slides were a fairly common occurrence. Agnes hadn't imagined that her children would be foolish enough to disobey her orders.

Yet she pushed all of that from her mind for the moment. All she could think of now was Tomas.

"Rita, tell me exactly what happened," Agnes said, her voice gentle but stern.

"We were playing by the mountains," she said again. "I-I dared him to go into a cave and then we were playing around but the rocks fell down and he couldn't get out."

Agnes could feel her heart rate increasing. "Rita, is he okay?"

Rita seemed to be on the verge of tears now. Her face was beginning to turn red again as she said, "I think he hurt his leg."

That was all Agnes needed to hear. Scooping up a confused Nora from her place on the rug, she grabbed Rita's hand in her free one and they were out the door without another word.

People were already beginning to line the main road through town. Agnes could see them crowding around each other, each vying for a better view of the road down which the Queen would be riding. Agnes herself had pushed all thoughts of the visit from her mind, and was looking around frantically for someone to help her.

She spotted Torvald and his wife across the road and started towards them. The look on her face seemed to speak volumes, because as she approached Torvald looked at her with concern and asked, "Agnes, what's wrong?"

She didn't waste any time. "It's my son. He hurt himself playing in the mountains and he's trapped up there. Please, I need your help."

Torvald nodded, and without a moment's hesitation he responded, "I'll see if I can gather a few more men to help." Agnes thanked him, overcome with relief that her neighbor was willing to forego the day's festivities to assist her.

It didn't take long to find four more volunteers, all of whom accepted the task without question. Their town was a small one, and everyone knew Agnes and her children. None of them wanted to see Tomas come to harm.

They set out at once, an uncharacteristically silent Rita leading the way. She seemed to have retreated into herself a bit, and Agnes supposed it was mostly guilt over having played a part in endangering her younger brother. Agnes knew she'd have to have stern words with the both of them later, once everyone was safe and sound back at home. And they would be.

The whole group most likely would have passed right by the cave if Rita hadn't pointed it out for them. It was hardly a cave at all really, more a narrow crevice cut into the side of the mountain. The opening was so small that a grown adult would have had to stoop over to enter, and the sides seemed brittle and less than sturdy. It appeared the entire front section of the cave had collapsed in on itself, completely obscuring the entrance with an avalanche of heavy rock.

Agnes rushed forward, calling out, "Tomas!"

There was no reply for a moment, before a tiny, muffled voice cried out, "Help! I'm in here!"

"Are you alright?" Agnes asked.

"Mommy?" Tomas responded. His voice was shaking and it sounded as though he'd been crying. "My leg is stuck. It really hurts."

With that, Torvald and the other men who had accompanied Agnes up the mountain stepped forward and began trying to move the rocks. One of them pulled at a stone near the base and the pile shifted slightly. They all stepped back at once.

"What's wrong?" Agnes asked. She could feel panic beginning to set in.

"The rocks are extremely unstable," Torvald explained, "I'm worried that if we try to move them one at a time like this, the whole pile could cave inwards and land on top of Tomas."

"So what can we do?" Agnes asked. Nora, who didn't quite understand the situation at all, had begun to cry. Agnes shifted the girl to her other shoulder. The outburst was doing nothing to calm her frazzled nerves.

Torvald seemed at a loss. "I'm sure we'll figure something out Agnes, but we shouldn't rush a situation like this." He turned to one of the other four men standing nearby and said, "Adrian, go back into town and find out if anyone has some sort of equipment that could help us with this." Adrian nodded, and without another word he set off back down the mountain in the direction they'd come.

Agnes could feel tears beginning to build in her own eyes now, but she stubbornly fought them back. Nora was still crying and Rita had moved to clutch her mother's skirts and Agnes felt so completely and utterly at a loss. She didn't think she'd be able to cope if anything happened to Tomas. She'd already lost her husband, she couldn't bear the thought of having her young son taken from her too.

After they'd been waiting around in relative silence for a few minutes, Agnes moved towards the cave again. She placed her hand against one of the stones, gently so as not to shift it, and called out, "Don't worry Tomas, we're still here. We're going to get you out of there."

"Just don't leave, okay?" came his response.

"Of course not," Agnes said, her voice laced with a confidence she didn't quite feel.

Unsure of what else to do, Agnes turned her attention to Rita. "What were you two thinking?" she asked. She hadn't meant for it to come out as harshly as it did, and she felt bad almost instantly when she saw her daughter flinch away.

Rita was getting upset now, and her words were punctuated by short, quick sobs. "We heard someone in town t-talking about the Snow Queen," she began, not meeting her mother's gaze, "They said she built a huge ice castle in the mountains and w-we wanted to see it."

A million thoughts rushed through Agnes's mind all at once upon hearing her daughter's explanation. Ages wanted to shout at Rita about how foolish she'd been. She wanted to tell Rita that she and her brother hadn't even had the right mountain and that, even if they had, two young children were not going to scale it and return before lunch. She wanted to shout so many things, to find some way to vent her overwhelming frustration, but she needed to remind herself that Rita was only eight, and hardly old enough to have known better.

Agnes was still wrestling with what to say next when a sudden hush fell over their small party. The men, who had been bickering quite animately amongst themselves, fell silent. Even Nora's crying had ceased, replaced by a few stray hiccups. Agnes turned to find the source of this new disturbance, and felt her breath catch in her throat.

There, coming over the hill, was a party on horseback. There were six armored guards, garbed in the uniform of the royal army and each armed with a sword that hung from his belt. Yet the focal point of the scene was very clearly the two young women riding at the center of the procession. The girl to the right seemed to be the younger one, her freckles and red hair standing out starkly against the grey backdrop of the mountains. She was garbed in a fine dress of bright green, much finer than any clothing Agnes had ever seen, and to her right was a woman who could only be the Queen.

Now Agnes had never so much as seen a portrait of Queen Elsa, but everything about the fair, blond woman riding towards them seemed to scream that she was royalty. She wore a sweeping gown of light blue, which seemed to shimmer in an almost unearthly fashion as she rode towards them. A small crown, perched delicately atop her head, completed the picture. From the way she carried herself, looking far more poised and regal than the red-headed girl at her side, to the guarded and commanding look she wore on her face, she carried the air of someone whose authority was not to be questioned.

All at once, the men who had been helping Agnes fell to their knees. Though she was still somewhat numb with shock and worry, Agnes had enough sense to follow suit, pulling Rita down beside her.

The approaching party came to a halt, and the Queen was the first to dismount. She bid Agnes and the others rise as she approached. Agnes shivered as the woman drew closer, though whether from cold or from nerves she couldn't say. The red-haired girl, whom Agnes had by now realized must be Princess Anna, had dismounted as well and moved to stand behind her sister.

Then the Queen spoke, and her tone carried the same authority she wore so plainly on her face. "One of the men in town said there was a boy trapped up in the mountains," she said, addressing Torvald, who had been standing nearest to her.

Torvald began to stutter, looking more frightened than Agnes had ever seen him. She felt a pang of sympathy for her neighbor. People in their town were not raised with the knowledge of how to act in the presence of royalty; it was assumed they would never have need of it.

"Y-yes ma-, uh your majesty," he finally managed. The Queen was nearly a foot shorter than Torvald, yet he was cowering like a child about to be scolded. "He's been trapped by a rock slide," he said, gesturing towards the cave.

The Queen turned and appeared to study the small cave for a few moments, eyes moving quickly as she assessed the situation. After some time, she stepped in front of the cave and sent a nervous glance over her shoulder. "Please stand back," she said, though her voice wavered a bit. The authoritative tone she'd commanded only moments before had slipped away.

Nevertheless, those gathered around the cave obeyed and took a few steps backwards. None took their eyes off the Queen, eager as they were to see what she would do next.

There was another brief pause, and then the Queen waved her right hand. Instantly, the rocks blocking the mouth of the cave iced over, their now-shiny surfaces reflecting the afternoon sun. Another wave, and the entire pile rose into the air. It hovered for a moment, suspended only by the force of the Snow Queen's magic, and then flew off to the side as she waved her hand a third and final time. The act was completely effortless. The Queen had accomplished what five grown men could not with no more than a wave of her hand.

But Agnes could hardly process any of that at the moment. All she cared about was the fact that Tomas had come into view, lying on the floor of the cave. Without another moment's hesitation she set Nora down and rushed towards her son.

"Are you alright?" she asked, stooping down to give him a hug as warm tears began to stream down her cheeks. Tomas was crying as well, hugging his mother as though he were clinging to her for dear life.

"Can you stand?" she asked him. She lifted his pants from the ankle up to examine his leg. It was quite swollen and already bruising a deep purple, but seemed intact.

Still, Tomas shook his head. "It hurts," he said quietly.

"Get the boy onto a horse," came the Queen's voice from somewhere behind them. Agnes started. She'd forgotten about the others still standing around behind her.

Agnes turned and looked towards the Queen. The young woman had moved off to the side, back towards where her sister and guards were standing. Yet something about her expression seemed wrong to Agnes. Whereas the Queen's face had been a mask before, now it was twisted with the effort of trying to hold back some sort of unidentifiable emotion. Her eyes too seemed to be almost tortured, and they were trained firmly on the ground. She still carried herself with poise, and her distress was almost imperceptible to the untrained eye, but Agnes was a mother of three. It was with a start that she recognized the emotion written in every line of the Queen's face. It was fear.

For a moment Agnes couldn't make sense of it. What could the Queen of Arendelle possibly have to be afraid of? But then Agnes remembered the way the Queen's voice had wavered before she'd used her powers to move the rocks. She took in the way the Queen was nervously wringing her hands, and the fact that the young woman didn't seem to want to meet her subjects' gaze.

Queen Elsa was afraid of _them_, it dawned on Agnes. The Queen was afraid of what they, her subjects, thought. She had control over ice and snow, all of that power, and yet she seemed terrified to meet the gaze of the woman whose son's life she'd just saved.

It all suddenly made sense to Agnes. The years of isolation, the mystery surrounding the hidden Queen; here were all of the answers displayed in front of her as plain as day. Queen Elsa did not mean to use her power to threaten or intimidate her people, she was terrified of it herself, and of what people would think of her when they saw it.

Only now did Agnes notice how young the Queen truly looked. The image she'd had before, of the cruel and calculating Snow Queen, was wiped from her mind.

Slowly, she moved forward to approach the Queen. Agnes was still covered in dirt and grass and hay from the morning's work, but she'd forgotten that for the moment. As she drew nearer, the Queen looked up. There was no disdain, nothing to suggest that she was being approached by someone beneath her, just that same strange and almost imperceptibly fearful look.

"Your majesty," Agnes began. She gave a small curtsy, though she was sure she hadn't done it correctly. She still couldn't quite wrap her head around the fact that she was addressing the Queen of Arendelle. "Thank you," she said, trying to fill her voice with all the sincerity and warmth she could manage.

The Queen seemed slightly caught off guard by the sudden sentiment, and she took a moment to compose herself before responding, "I'm glad to see that your son is alright." Her tone was still formal and reserved, her smile small and guarded, but the Queen's expression had noticeably relaxed.

There was a giggle from behind them, and both Agnes and the Queen turned to see Rita and Nora tackle their brother in a hug, taking care to avoid his injured leg. He protested, slowly regaining his confidence now that the danger had passed, but his eyes were bright and he was smiling.

Princess Anna had moved to stand beside her sister, and she nudged the Queen gently in the ribs as they watched Agnes's children rolling around together on the ground. The two sisters shared a look and a small smile, and Agnes turned back just in time to catch it, feeling a bit uncomfortable as she realized she was witnessing a private moment. Looking at the way Princess Anna so clearly adored her older sister, it was plain to see that the Princess was in no way being held against her will. Agnes thought about how wrong she'd been and felt foolish.

Mustering up her courage, Agnes addressed the Queen again. "Your majesty," she began, and both the Queen and Princess both turned to give Agnes their full attention without a hint of annoyance. Agnes met the Queen's eyes and held her gaze for a moment as she said, "Your magic is beautiful."

Queen Elsa smiled again, and this one was not formal and guarded but a true smile, small and tentative though it was. Princess Anna's face had lit up from beside her sister as well, and her eyes were sparkling with something akin to gratitude.

Before any of them could say anything more, however, one of the guards approached. He cleared his throat, clearly nervous for having interrupted, and said, "Pardon, your majesty, but we should be getting back."

"Yes, of course," Queen Elsa responded and, with one last small smile at Agnes, she turned and headed back to her horse.

One of guards gave up his horse for Tomas, since he could not walk down the mountain on his injured leg. Tomas had never been on horseback before, so one of the men from the village rode with him, keeping him securely seated in the saddle. Agnes and the rest of the party walked behind the Queen and the Princess and their guards, Rita barely concealing her jealousy that her brother had been allowed to ride a royal horse.

They returned amidst shouts and whistles and excitement. The entire town had gathered to await the party's return, and at the sight of the small group headed down the mountain they erupted into raucous cheers. In the midst of all the commotion, Agnes collected her children and expressed her thanks once again to the guard who had given up his horse for her son. She spared one last glance at the Queen, who was already being surrounded by her subjects, her guards spreading out to keep the crowds at bay, and smiled.

Torvald carried Tomas as they headed back toward Anges's house. His wife came rushing up to meet them as they drew closer.

"Oh thank goodness you're all alright," she said, smiling as she took in the sight of them. "The Queen _herself_ went into the mountains when Adrian came 'round asking for help. The entire town was in an uproar."

It was Rita who spoke up at this. She was acting like herself again now that her brother was out of danger. "Queen Elsa is the coolest!" she exclaimed, "She moved the rocks all by herself! It was awesome!"

The adults all shared a chuckle, because Rita had essentially summed it up.

* * *

That night, Agnes allowed all three of her children to sleep together in the same room. Normally only Rita and Nora shared, with Tomas in a smaller room down the hall, but after the day's events she understood why her children wanted to stay together. She'd had the town physician over to take a look at Tomas's leg, after all of the commotion of the Queen's visit had died down, and luckily it was only a particularly nasty sprain. Tomas would need to stay off his feet for a while, but he would be alright.

As Agnes kissed them all goodnight and moved to turn out the light, Rita called after her, "Wait! Mommy, tell us a story."

It was already quite late, but Agnes looked at her three children, all snuggled together on the same small bed, and relented. She moved back towards their bedside and pulled up a chair.

"Make it a good one," Rita said sternly, and her siblings nodded their enthusiastic agreement.

Agnes thought for a moment, and then began, "Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess with power over ice and snow..."

* * *

**So this came out a lot longer than I'd expected it to when I began it. It almost doubled in length over the course of the time I was working on it. I was just very interested in doing a story about Elsa from an outside perspective. Let me know what you thought of it if you have the chance. There were certain parts I struggled a bit with, so I'd like to hear what you think worked or what didn't. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. **


End file.
